I was on Twitter recently and came across a post about a upcoming Netflix French-language film, Cuties. From what I could gather from what people posted, this film was clearly highly inappropriate and was sexualizing minors. There was so much disapproval and condemnation for this film, across the board, I became curious why Netflix would even put something so controversial on their platform.
So I finally became curious to see the trailer for what so many people had been deeming borderline child pornography, and well I was very surprised.
Watching the trailer I didn't see any of the things people had been crying about on social media. Instead I saw a coming-of-age drama where a young girl who has to struggle with the duality of her traditional Muslim upbringing and internet culture. I saw a film that looked to criticize the hypersexualisation of young girls.
Looking at it I can understand where people were coming from, but the truth is they should have been taking a closer look at themselves for even seeing it as they did. Because in talking about it, they themselves had began to hypersexualize the young girls in that film.
It's a major issue that needs to be addressed in our society, where young girls now are seen as sexual objects. Too many times I've heard the line ''after 12 its lunch'' or ''you got to catch them early'' as though it justifies this kind of vile thinking.
We need to take a hard look at ourselves as society and ask the difficult question of whether we ourselves are the ones perpetuating this hypersexualisation of young girls and all the issues it brings with it, from rape to inappropriate interactions with young girls by older men. We need to create a safe environment for young girls to grow, learn and discover who they are without the constant fear for their safety and being lusted over. We need to let children be children, and not have to fear the horrors of this world.